House unanimously passes video secrecy bill

BATON ROUGE - The House voted 96-0 Friday to make secret the security surveillance video from the Louisiana Capitol complex, supporting a measure that would exempt the video from the public records law.

Lawmakers didn't debate or ask any questions about the proposal (Senate Bill 446) by Sen. Sherri Smith Buffington, R-Keithville, before agreeing to it.

Buffington has said she doesn't want people to be able to use surveillance footage from the Capitol to spot vulnerabilities in the building's security.

The measure goes back to the Senate for consideration of a heavy rewrite by the House that narrowed its scope.

As passed by the Senate, the bill would have exempted all state building security footage from Louisiana's public records law. That would have swept in state parks, public college buildings and hundreds of facilities around the state.

The House limited the measure to the Capitol and its immediate buildings, grounds and parking areas.